Traditionally, products have been shipped in bulk from a manufacturer to a retailer in cartons containing protective packing material. Individual products were then removed from the cartons to be individually placed on a shelf or rack for display. For small, expensive and easily stolen products, the shelf or rack might be located within a secured display case to minimize the risk of theft.
This system of shipping and display is both costly and time consuming. The manufacturer must often pay relatively expensive initial packaging costs, particularly for items that are easily damaged by rough handling. The retailer must pay employees to individually place each product item on display in a manner that is both visually appealing to the customer and safe for the product. Furthermore, for small, expensive and easily stolen products, which are kept in secured display cases, the retailer must pay a sales person to attend to each customer wishing to inspect the products. These costs are typically passed along to the consumer, who receives little benefit from them other than to receive a product that has safely survived the rigors of shipping. Accordingly, there is a continuing need for more economical means of safely and efficiently shipping and displaying products for sale.
In order to provide for efficient shipping and display, it is known to provide a plurality of the products in a packaging assembly that includes a display stand, a plurality of display packs holding the plurality of products, and a shipping cover. U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,662, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes such a packaging assembly. The display stand is preferably constructed from a single sheet of cardboard, and it includes a rectangular base panel, a front panel having a gap for viewing, and two parallel side panels. Each side panel includes a plurality of slots that align with slots in the other side panel.
The display pack, which contains the product within its smaller packaging, typically is significantly larger than the small packaging, providing for increased deterrence of theft. Typically, display packs are configured with an appealing appearance to the customer, and provide added safety in shipping.
Display packs are usually approximately planar assemblies formed from front and rear portions of transparent, vacuum-molded plastic. The front and rear portions are each configured with a flange, the flanges each forming conforming notches allowing the two portions to be adjoined and heat sealed or glued together. The display stand's matched pairs of slots are configured to receive the display pack flanges to support and display the products carried in the product chamber. The display packs are inserted into succeeding matched pairs of the slots. Optionally, the front and rear portions include frames configured to abut with the frames of adjacent display packs, to provide structural support to each succeeding display pack.
Such display packs are relatively inexpensive, and benefit from the appealing appearance of the small packaging, which is visible through the display packs. For example, U.S. Design Pat. No. D353,092, to Green, entitled “Blister Pack,” discloses a transparent display pack assembly having several cavities for containing products.
The display stand of the packaging assembly, with the plurality of inserted display packs, may be covered with a shipping cover to provide a structurally sound rectangular box suitable for shipping. The shipping cover is a conventional, five-sided, open-topped, rectangular box, having an opening that conforms to the shape and size of the base panel, allowing the shipping cover to be taped, along its opening, to the under side of the display stand's base panel. As an alternative to using a shipping cover, a plurality of display stands, each with their plurality of inserted display packs, can be stacked, palletized and wrapped.
This display assembly provides many advantages, some of which are described in the above referenced utility patent. One of these advantages is that the packaging assemblies can be designed in standard sizes so that stores can designate standard increments of shelf space, regardless of the size of the product. Another of these advantages is that the plurality of display packs provide a strong and resilient inner support structure for the box formed by the display stand and the shipping cover. The stronger this structure is, the better suited the packaging assembly is for shipping.
One disadvantage of prior shipping assemblies of this kind is that, over time, the portions of the left and right side panels forming the slots for supporting the display packs can become bent and lose sufficient integrity to support the display packs in their desired, substantially upright orientation. This can be a particular problem if customers repeatedly remove and replace a display pack in a matched pair of slots. As a result, the display packs can tilt forward or rearward and fail to attract further customers in the manner desired.
It should, therefore, be appreciated that there exists a need for an improved packaging assembly that overcomes the drawbacks of prior packaging assemblies, and that can better support a plurality of display stands in their desired upright positions despite repeated removal and replacement of the display packs by customers. The present invention fulfills this need and provides further related advantages.